


maybe I fell in love when you woke me up.

by shrdmdnssftw



Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Curtain Fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-08
Updated: 2012-09-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 19:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shrdmdnssftw/pseuds/shrdmdnssftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>In the first two weeks of living together, Perrie counts five missing socks, three broken mugs and a chipped dinner plate. She’s pretty sure that there’s more on the </i>List of Things That Could Possibly Go Wrong (And Have)<i> but really, she’s just holding out that the washing machine will stop its rattling noises on its own.</i></p>
<p>For <a href="http://higherarrowsfic.livejournal.com/16838.html?thread=261574#t261574">this prompt</a> at the Zayn/Perrie ficathon, and a little overdue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	maybe I fell in love when you woke me up.

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of suck at writing Little Mix, but I just love Zayn and Perrie so much so. This happened.

In the first two weeks of living together, Perrie counts five missing socks, three broken mugs and a chipped dinner plate. She’s pretty sure that there’s more on the _List of Things That Could Possibly Go Wrong (And Have)_ but really, she’s just holding out that the washing machine will stop its rattling noises on its own.

She takes out the chipped plate and its unblemished companion and sets them on the table for what’ll pass as dinner – Zayn’s headed out to pick up the Thai food that they’ve ordered that night. Truth be told, neither of them have actually tried to pick up the nice saucepans and cooking utensils set that Liam purchased them as a housewarming present. There’s just something so- daunting, Perrie supposes, about actually stepping into the kitchen and trying to create something edible.

Plus there’s an awful lot of pressure for her to be a little Suzy Homemaker, what with Jade telling the One Direction boys that Perrie was the chef in their little flat.

Of course, Zayn didn’t believe a word of it, passing over a little stack of takeout menus on the first night in the new place, squeezing her shoulder and admitting with a laugh that, “yeah, I know you can’t cook, babe. Neither can I.”

Niall, however, is expecting to come over at any chance now, and have a feast ready.

Another reason why she hasn’t unpacked more than the two sets of crockery.

Zayn arrives then, his noodles and her curry in hand, the tip of his nose and cheeks a little wind bitten, but looking all the more grateful to be at home.

That’s the best part about it, Perrie supposes. That despite the absolute wreck they’re making of their first month together, it’s still a kind of home.

-

“So you’re still alive then?” and trust Leigh-Anne to be the joking one right now, when Perrie’s trying to balance the phone in the crook of her shoulder, arms occupied with dusting the bookshelves. She could probably hire someone to do it for her, or at least, Zayn offered to find someone, but there’s a line in the sand that says _no one_ is allowed to touch her books.

Realising it’s a fruitless task, Perrie sighs and flops down on the couch, dropping the feather duster to hold her phone properly. “’Course we are. What’d you expect?”

“Crying, by now, really,” and at Perrie’s scoff, Leigh-Anne quickly backtracks.

“Not because of Zayn, bless that boy for managing to live with you. No, because you miss us.”

And that’s a little better, Perrie supposes. “It’s only been three days since I saw you last.”

“ _Four_ ,” comes Jesy’s voice through the phone and of course she’s home now. It’s half seven, meaning that her spin class that usually follows her work out session is cancelled. Sometimes, she regrets introducing Jesy to the boys because it’s all they can do to pry her away from the gym and Dani’s dance studio nowadays.

“Fine, four, but we’re popping over for dinner with you tomorrow, right?”

Both girls make a noise of agreement and Perrie smiles at how in sync the two really are. There’s something about living together that really makes that bond, and Perrie misses that with Jade. Speaking of.

“Where’s Jade then?”

“Off with the boyfriend, of course,” Leigh-Anne says, smile in her voice. “It’s kind of sweet, how quickly she’s replaced you and all.”

“Oi, I’ll have you know I decided to move out before she asked me to.”

“Yeah, yeah,” comes Jesy’s reply. “Where is your loverboy anyway?”

At that, the door opens, and Perrie mutters a _speak of the devil_. “He’s just come home, haven’t you Zayn?”

He walks over to where she’s lounged out on the couch, and presses a quick kiss to her cheek, before talking into the mouthpiece.

“Still off promoting the album, really. You’d think we’d be done by now. Heaven knows _you_ are.”

“We’re a bit of a smaller act than you are, though,” says Jesy and Zayn laughs at that.

“Don’t think we even managed to sell out shows so quickly in our first few days,” and his tone brooks no argument.

“Shut up,” Perrie says fondly, “and get out the plates for dinner.”

Zayn nods, smiling and walks into the kitchen, letting his hand drag across Perrie’s shoulders as he walks off.

“So you _are_ still trying to do the whole domesticity shtick, then?” Jesy’s asking and Perrie hmms her agreement.

“’S nice,” she says. “I mean, we get to spend time together without people _barging in all the time_.”

“Yeah, I know, that Niall can be terrible,” Leigh-Anne laughs and Perrie wishes that they were in the same room, that she could punch her shoulder and have the easy kind of physicality that came with sharing each other’s space.

“No, but really. We’ve barely enough time as it is, trying to schedule when we’ve a day off at the same time. It’s good this way, at least we get to do couch snuggles.”

The girls coo at that, except how they’re kind of sincere about it and if Perrie were one to blush, she would.

Zayn’s coming over though, having set out the stuff for dinner (and it’s pasta tonight, bought from the freezer aisle of the supermarket, forcing them to _finally_ figure out the oven), and sitting next to her, lifting her legs to rest them over his lap and it’s nice.

“Perrie,” and it’s Jesy’s voice pulling her out of her thoughts. “We’ve lost you again.”

And instead of her answering, Zayn plucks the phone out of Perrie’s grasp and says their goodbyes.

“We’re about to have dinner, actually,” he says and Perrie hears Jade say something about Leigh-Anne fixing them something to eat and that’s the conversation wrapped up.

Perrie’s feeling lazy though and when Zayn puts down the phone and tries to stand up, she presses her legs down, stopping him from moving.

“Sit with me a sec longer?” she asks and Zayn smiles, settling back down.

When they end up going to eat the pasta, it’s been reheated for a bit too long, but neither of them mind, not really.

-

They start getting groceries delivered in at around the four week mark, coincidentally after they go without milk for three days. Zayn’s too busy being pulled into label obligations and Perrie’s been off for a couple of days for some shows and both are fairly disappointed that there’s nothing to pour over the late night cereal.

Luckily, Louis’ willing to set it up for them, having sorted something similar out for his own family and they fill out a checklist together, filling up their virtual trolley with fruits and veggies and pretending that they might actually get some use out of them.

Zayn is tempted to buy a box of carrots to send to Louis’ house but Perrie talks him out of it, being sick of the joke herself.

Of course, it’s only until they need to run a load of washing that they realise they’ve forgotten to add washing powder and detergent to the list and Perrie literally has no trousers left, or shorts, or skirts, and Zayn is down to his last raggy t-shirt.

They make it a mission between the two of them to go and fetch some, praying that by some chance the corner shop is open, and that there’s no paps out at this time of night.

When the photos come up a few days later, Perrie’s only made aware of them by Jade’s MMS, a _cute_ and the accompanying photo of her and Zayn in their onesies, bag of shopping items in hand.

She has to admit, they do look pretty sweet on each other, especially the way she’s tugging at Zayn’s zipper, but Perrie immediately flicks through her phone’s photo album, picks the worst one of Jade she has and sends it in reply.

The fact that she CCs the message to Jesy and Leigh-Anne is probably unfair but they’ve all seen each other at their worst, anyway, and Jade’s not one to hold a grudge. Much.

-

Keeping a flat and keeping one ready for entertaining, Perrie soon learns, are two different things entirely. She comes home one night to the entire One Direction band sitting on their couch, Harry’s legs sprawled out over the rest of the boys and it’d be a ridiculous sight, if it weren’t for how _neat_ it all was.

Save for the bowls of crisps and sweets on the tables, there’s nothing out of place. Sitting underneath each of their drinks are coasters which Perrie didn’t even knew they owned.

Zayn turns around when he notices she’s there, quirks a smile up at her and waves a hand hopelessly at the pile of boys on top of him, as if to reason that he can’t really escape.

She smiles, an _I know_ and it’s the best thing, that they can communicate this well now.

Louis, however, isn’t one for non-verbal communication, and with a nudge to Harry and Niall either side of him, they chorus a hello.

“’S lovely to see you,” Louis’ saying and it’s a little hammy, a little cheesy and a lot charming.

Fetching a beer of her own from the fridge, Perrie makes Liam scoot over on the edge of the couch and watches as they finish off the movie they’ve been watching.

-

When the girls come over the next week, it’s a completely different matter. Somehow, there’s a pile of M&Ms sitting at the bottom of the flower vase that she keeps forgetting to freshen up and she’s stopped counting how many of the pillows Leigh-Anne has taken from their spare room and shifted into the lounge. Zayn’s popped his head in every half hour or so, taking a break from his work in the little studio room to see what they’re up to, and each time is looking more and more bemused.

It’s affectionate confusion, at least, and he laughs it off later as he and Perrie collect up all the stray bits of biscuit from the table and couch.

“’S good to know you’re not, like, perpetrating any stereotypes, you know,” and he’s stifling a laugh, so Perrie picks up the closest pillow to her and tosses it at him, no warning.

From there, it devolves into a pillow fight and there’re probably a couple of bits of fluff that go flying, not that Perrie will ever admit that.

Zayn has no qualms and next time Harry is over, he’s whining about him wanting pillow fights too. Perrie’s torn between loving and hating the fact that her flat with Zayn is the largest, and therefore now home base.

-

At the eight week point, they’re well and truly settled in, wardrobes finally completely unpacked and the studio-office nicely split between his vinyl records and her collection of 1990s CDs, his sets of headphones and their shared recording equipment. They’ve also finally gotten around to unpacking more of their kitchen stuff too and Harry’s offered to teach them how to bake some things, Danielle calling in and adding her pesto recipe to their repertoire, Jesy teasing that one day, she might tell them how she makes her mac and cheese.

They end up cooking one night when Niall and Jade come over, both invited as a sort of “we haven’t forgotten about you, ex-flatmate” thing, and the pesto kind of gets all over Zayn’s nose and Perrie eats about half the plain pasta before Niall can even turn up, a bottle of wine in hand.

Jade turns up fifteen minutes later, just as they’re plating up, timing typically exact. She’s got a bunch of flowers though, “to replace the dead ones on your coffee table, yeah?” and kisses all three of them on the cheek before they sit down.

Of course, it couldn’t really be a dinner at their place without something going quite wrong, and when Jade asks if Zayn’s always had that jacket, Niall catches on before either of the couple do, laughing with Perrie’s band mate.

It’s when Perrie turns to examine the denim that Zayn’s got on that she realises, yeah, that’s kind of hers.

Zayn simply laughs though, when she points it out. “Suppose not, then. But what can I say, she’s got good taste.”

And it’s sweet, really, and Perrie can’t resist pressing a kiss to his lips, feeling him smile as she does so. When the moment breaks, Niall and Jade have turned to each other, giving the other two a bit of privacy because well.

“She really does,” Jade’s saying and Niall nods his agreement. “You both do.”


End file.
